Being Eurasian (Episode2)

Eating education FRANCE/VIETNAM

I have been surprising  by the eating/meal time education in Vietnam, 

French people are famous about all that fancy stuff while coming to meal time. 

French eating education start very early, when kids able to sit down, parents obligate

us to sit and keep calm while eating, we will going no where if we not finishing our plate. 

Compare this simple point to Vietnam, I have seen kids running around with the mom trying to feed him/her, playing around and didn't show any interest about having food. 

I can guess, many french saw this kind of scene, they will be shocking, in France the meal time is a important moment to share with family, this education also learn us to be social and meet family while all day everyone got busy (work,school...). 

French uses fancy manners ? 

Parents teach french kids to keep polite while having lunch/dinner, they teach us so much manners, 

"stay polite, eat all your plate, sit correctly, do not play when eating, chew mouth close, 

don't watch tv while eating, don't check your phone, two hands on the tables, back have to be straight (...)" 

Yes, we do being fancy compare to Vietnam education eating time, 

In Vietnam i took a close look to some basics manners we used to learn very young, 

no one been respected. 

Few examples: 

FRANCE : SIT DOWN / VIETNAM : RUNNING AROUND

FRANCE : FINISHING PLATE / VIETNAM : MOM TRYING TO GIVE AT LEAST ONE SPOON

FRANCE : NOT WATCHING TV / VIETNAM : (...) IPAD AND TV ARE IN THE PARTY

French takes forever to eat (...) 

Parents teach us very young to take time, chew slowly and even putting down ours fork almost each bites. I remenber trying to rush because my friends was waiting for me, don't even try... nope... Parents are so strict and do not let you rush or being in hurry finishing your plate. 

When comes to family celebration moment, we got so many steps, meal usually take all day long, Starters, glass of wine, snacking, main meal, glass of wine, salad, cheese, wine, dessert, coffee (...)

For Vietnamese is banh mi on the go, driving motobike trying to not being late at school or work, i saw it so many times, it's not suprising me anymore to see my friend eating in 3 minutes them bowl of pho or rice plate. As quick as they can, Vietnamese don't like to take forever with meal time, only when comes to family celebration take all day alike France, in Vietnam we doesn't got steps for celebration meals, but only putting all plates in the middle for everyone to share, i will not forget to talk about beverage place in vietnamese celebration, beer and rice alcohol are the little star here, 

during all day we will " MOT, HAI, BA YO ", here this the vietnamese cheers up. 

Every time you will have a sip, you will have to cheers up everyone first, otherwises this is not polite, and i saw vietnamese got so much fun to "YO" all meal long, that kind of weird but this is the tradition here and i m used to it now. Vietnamese family celebration also include manners to serve each others, we teach us to put a small serve in each bowl at the table before having your proper food. The funny things is even you got full and won't eat anymore, there is always that uncle or aunt putting food into your bowl, but in Vietnam this is not an option to refuse, otherwise you will be disrespectful against this relative just serve you as a "gift".

FRANCE REGULAR MEAL : AROUND 30 MINUTES TO 45 MINUTES

VETNAM REGULAR MEAL : 3 MINUTES TO 10 MINUTES

Vietnamese snacking addiction ? 

As i explain before, Vietnamese are not taking time to enjoy meal time, they got rush and don't really care about chew slowly or stuff like this. Thats why, in my opinion, snacking in Vietnam is a random thing, Vietnamese eat whenever they like and snack regular meal instead of only a little biscuit or sweet, but a entire meal as a snack. 

Breakfast eat like a king, Lunch eat like a 

In France, parents teach kids to not snack ever between meals, only goûter time(small snack) at 4pm is allowed, after school kids enjoy their sweet snacks. 

FRANCE SNACK EXAMPLE : BISCUIT, BREAD WITH NUTELLA

VIETNAM SNACK EXAMPLE : PHO, BANH MI, SWEET BBQ POTATOES

French table seems complicated ? 

Does it look scaring when comes to using french cutlery at the restaurant? 

In France, dressing cutlery is a tradition, a knowledge everyone must respect 

and don't even try to play around with thats rules, elder relatives will get upset and will let you know.

In Vietnam, table presentation is simple with a bowl and chopstick everything is ready pretty quick. 

French table